John Thomson, 78, Montco educator

John D. Thomson, 78,of Rydal Park, an educator in the Hatboro-Horsham School District for more than 30 years, died Wednesday of encephalitis at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Thomson joined the Hatboro-Horsham District in 1956 as a junior high school English teacher. He became an elementary school principal in 1966 and was assigned to several schools before his retirement in 1988.

Mr. Thomson's last three years as principal were spent at Hallowell School in Horsham. There he presided over an annual Balloon Day, traditionally releasing the first of more than 300 balloons attached with tags bearing the students' names and the school address.

"We make a geography lesson out of this," he told a reporter in 1986. "The children have to track on a map where their balloon is picked up."

Some of the balloons float across the river to New Jersey, and in 1985 one landed in Connecticut, he said.

From 1968 to 1980 Mr. Thomson also was principal of the district's Hatboro-Horsham Adult Basic Education school, for people seeking a general equivalency diploma or to learn English as a second language.

Mr. Thomson graduated from Merchantville High School in Camden County and earned a bachelor's degree from Bucknell University. During the Korean War, he served in the Army in the States.

After his discharge, he taught English in junior high schools in the Coatesville school district while earning a master's degree in education from Temple University.

He was a volunteer at Abington Memorial Hospital and worked for 10 years at Paine Learning Aids Center in Roslyn after he retired from the school system. He enjoyed keeping in touch with former colleagues who shopped at the center for classroom items, his wife, Jane Ashworth Thomson, said.

The couple met as members of the choir at Calvary Baptist Church in Pennsauken. Mr. Thomson's father, the Rev. Everard Thomson, was pastor of the church.

Mr. Thomson later sang in the choir at Abington Presbyterian Church and served there as an elder, a deacon, and a Sunday School teacher. He also was principal of a church-sponsored night school for inner-city children.

He was a member of several professional organizations, including the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

Mr. Thomson was a "music man," his wife said. "He played the piano, guitar, banjo, and just about anything but a flute." He especially loved to provide the accompaniment for sing-alongs at social events.

In addition to his wife of 57 years, Mr. Thomson is survived by daughters Kathy Reif and Lois Harris; a sister; and seven grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at Abington Presbyterian Church, 1082 Old York Rd., Abington. Friends may call from 10:30 a.m. Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery, Roslyn.